After picking up my Octavia on Tuesday from my dealer and being lighter in the pocket to the tune of a grand (see my other thread for the gory details www.briskoda.net/forums/octavia/ouch-1k-plus-service-bill/86530/)

I was looking forward to some trouble free motoring and had even today with some excellent advice from Stuart decided to go for a remap at JKM.

My car has other ideas.....

Last night I had a problem where after waiting for the glow plug light to go out I turned the ignition key and nothing happened, all the dash lights were on but I just got a muffled click, I turned the ignition off and tried again and it started, I used the car again later in the evening and it was fine so I put it down to a one off.

I went out this morning and it was fine also, then this afternoon after driving it to my in laws I loaded it up with the wife and nipper and other stuff, jumped in and it wouldn't start, just got the clicking noise again (which I am presuming is the solenoid on the starter motor) I tried several times with no luck.

My initial thought was the battery but this is newish purchased Aug last year so I didn't think it could be that, after a few more attempts to start it my father in law hooked his car up via jump leads convinced my battery was dead but even with the jumps connected it just wouldn't start just the clicking noise.

So at this point the mind starts racing as I had the cam belt & water pump changed in the service and I was thinking it may be connected to that in some way.

Then by chance I just held the ignition key in the start position and it started. While leaving it running I called my dealer as this seemed a bit too coincidental for me, to their credit they told me I could bring it in straight away (this was about 4:45 and they close at 5:30) so it's now with them again to be looked at tomorrow.

They think it could be the ignition switch or maybe the starter motor but I will let them check it over tomorrow I have asked them to check the battery also but I looked at all the cells and they were fine and when it did eventually start after my troubles this afternoon it started fine with no signs of a sluggish battery.

The ignition switch theory does seem plausible as it did start when I just held the key in the start position but then I thought that if the ignition switch was not making the connection how come the solenoid on the starter was clicking each time I turned the key surely there must be some sort of a connection.

Oh well will wait to see what the dealer discovers tomorrow I'll post the outcome of their diagnosis once I know it but if anyone out there has any ideas or has experienced anything similar would be interested to hear your stories / opinions / advice, :thumbdwn:

It could be a loose earth lead...

Sound's like the starter solenoid to me because you say you can hear the relay click in and also the instrument cluster lights are on, so that would probably rule out a bad earth or faulty starter switch.

However.... knowing how daft the wiring can be in some of these modern cars, there may be other fuses/relays/circuits in series with the starter circuit which can cause the same symptoms. Hopefully, that isn't the case bearing in mind your recent servicing bill. Fingers crossed for you.

Sound's like the starter solenoid to me because you say you can hear the relay click in and also the instrument cluster lights are on, so that would probably rule out a bad earth or faulty starter switch.

However.... knowing how daft the wiring can be in some of these modern cars, there may be other fuses/relays/circuits in series with the starter circuit which can cause the same symptoms. Hopefully, that isn't the case bearing in mind your recent servicing bill. Fingers crossed for you.

Thanks for the information your theory that it may be the starter solenoid is one I hadn't thought of.

But it's for my dealer to trace the fault, as I mentioned earlier it could be just coincidental but it does seem a little strange that I took it in for the service with no signs of problems other that the brakes being worn, now it's had all the work done to it this new fault suddenly manifests itself.

Hopefully I'll get a call later from the dealer but I expect with the luck I have had that it will be bad news again. :confused:

I am jinxed.....

Dealer just called me to say that the starter motor is cream crackered. They've been trying to replicate the fault all morning and it finally went on them.

The assured me this is nothing to do with all the work that it had done earlier in the week and they have been sympathetic enough to realise that I spent a shed load with them so they are discounting the cost of a new starter motor but I'm still looking at another